I've used Selectspecs a few times (and had to unsubscribe, they send a lot of emails and almost always in duplicate). Fine, no problems and very cheap for standard stuff. My problem is that I need out-of-the-ordinary things and the savings over the high street weren't great. For normalish prescriptions, things can be very cheap and they offer various tints including grad (which sometimes is expensive for what it is).

Varifocals by mail are not recommended as they need to be aligned and fitted correctly. One company (I cant remember which) sends you a blank pair and you mark them up and send them back which apparently is safer.

i have glasses when my eyes need a rest from my contact lenses, i have never bought my glasses on line due to them being varifocals, I guess i'm worried about having to do the measurements myself and making a mistake . I do however buy my contact lenses online with my contact lens prescription and i do save money.

Allgram, I took 'graduated' to mean tints, as opposed to varifocals. If you mean varifocals, you will need to know what all the numbers mean to avoid a mistake. I dislike how high-street opticians hold the PD like it's Official Secrets Act but it's worth getting that info out of them, or it can be DIY with a bit of assistance, for best results. Also, if you have a comfy pair of glasses, look at those numbers on the armpiece and select something similar so they sit on your ears and nose well.